Pages of a Fable—Nejiten
by raspberryfanfics
Summary: -a collection of nejiten crossover one-shots [iv. Tenten has held off on thinking about them since she got his owl. It has been all too much now. Six years ago, they were freshly graduated from the auror academy. Maybe half a year later, they had gained the trust of many seniors and they were partners, developing strategies, blending together like dance partners. ]
1. Positive Emotions

**i. Positive Emotions  
****AU: Harry Potter Universe  
****Summary: In which Neji and Tenten have trouble casting a Patronus Charm**

* * *

"Inuzuka, give me one good reason I shouldn't make you clean trophies because you've been harassing Miss Yamanaka."

Kiba rolled his eyes at the Hufflepuff prefect. "Tenten, she's pretty much asking—"

"There are no rules in whether or not she decides to unbutton a few buttons or cut her shirt and skirt, however, there are rules to sexual harassment." she raised an eyebrow at him. Ino smirked and crossed her arms triumphantly.

"Fine, but do I still have to go to detention?"

"I'll let it slide. Next time you want someone's attention, try giving her a box of chocolate frogs. It probably would work much better than jinxing her clothes."

Two faces reddened and she sighed, walking away from the two sixth-years.

On the way to her next class, she stumbled upon her good friend and teammate, Rock Lee.

"I think we should push for a little extra training this week," he said to her enthusiastically, gathering his books for their next class in his giant green messenger bag. "Our game against Gryffindor is coming up and we must show them Hufflepuff's burning youth!"

"I'm sure we've already shown them." she smiled, recalling how aggressive Lee could be and the way he would hit buldgers so fast that the other team would often spend most their time dodging rather than chasing. "Though I agree, it would be smart to push for a few more practices."

Temari, formerly of Gryffindor, had been the keeper for their team for many years and with Naruto as Chaser, they made an incredible team. Since she had graduated last year from Hogwarts, Naruto was now captain, though she doubted they'd be as good. Hufflepuff's defeat was humiliating and she was glad they had a chance to redeem themselves.

As she climbed into the north tower with a red bag strapped on her back, she took a seat beside the seventh-year Head Boy and Prefect, Neji Hyuga. His nose was buried in a Divination book, glasses perched on his sharp nose, posture immaculate.

"Still obsessing of fate, Hyuga?" she teased. "Use your genius for other things."

"I don't recall asking for your opinion, Tenten." he marked his book and turned around, a small hint of a smile on his lips.

"No, I'm just exercising my freedom of speech." she retorted, pulling out her wand and pointing it to her small bag, flicking it a couple of times. A textbook, quill, notebook, and a couple of fudge flies leaped out of her bag and landed onto the table. A few people stared, impressed that she was able to master non-verbal summoning so quickly.

Neji, however, was used to it. She had mastered the fourth-year summoning charm in her first year and non-verbal in the fifth year. Tenten held out the carton of fudge-flies, offering the Ravenclaw some sweets. He shook his head and turned back to his book.

The class died down a little as their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor strode in, wizard cap covering one eye, book in hand. As usual, Professor Kakashi Hatake was very late.

"Sorry, class, a couple of house-elves needed help carrying some groceries—"

"Save it, professor!" cried a kid from the corner of the room.

"House-elves don't even need to carry anything," she mumbled to Neji, "that was one of the lamest excuses yet."

He shrugged and put away his book, replacing it with the one on their subject.

"Today, we'll be learning about the Patronus." the professor started slowly. "I'm sure one of you has heard of it."

Tenten rolled her eyes. Everyone has heard of the Patronus. Especially with the recent cases of the Akatsuki breaking out of Azkaban, dementors have been trailing in and out of Hogwarts, much to Headmaster Tsunade's fury.

As the teacher gave a short lecture, many of it a review, Tenten glanced at Neji, who was paying strict attention and taking notes though he probably didn't need it. Suddenly, his hand stopped scribbling on his parchment and looked over to her, his white eyes locking with hers. She felt her cheeks go red and quickly darted her eyes away, focusing back onto Professor Hatake.

"I'm going to let you get into threes so you can try and practice the Patronus," he replied. "I do not expect any of you to be able to perform a spell that most witches and wizards cannot, though I would like to see if you can create the beginnings of one.

The Head Boy merely blinked, unlike Lee, who was quite worried. Her best friend and fellow beater wasn't as magically gifted as other wizards. He wasn't great at subjects that required a lot of spell casting such as Charms, Transfiguration, or DADA either. He made up for it by working exceptionally hard in Potions, Herbology, and his best subject, Care of Magical Creatures and being one of the best Quidditch players of the century. She could see why he wasn't happy about learning such a spell, as hard work might not come easy for one so complex.

Neji on the other hand, was able to master practically all of them, scoring an Outstanding in all of his NEWTs except for Divination. Though having an obsession with fate and lacking any talent for it whatsoever, Defence Against the Dark Arts was his best subject. He was quick-thinking, skilled, and had a duelling style his extremely pure-blood wizarding family excelled in. The spell he always conjured up was the shield charm, yet he used it for offence rather than defence, knocking many people off their feet during it.

The group of three took a spot in the large classroom and flipped through their books to get the instructions.

Tenten attempted first, thinking of a positive memory, (the first time she summoned something), and waved her wand in a circle, and chanted the incantation. Unfortunately, nothing happened. She tried for another memory, and another, yet nothing seemed to produce any result. Finally, she relieved a more nostalgic memory and tried one more time and a very very faint wisp seemed to drip from her wand.

Neji tried next, closing his eyes for a brief moment, looking quite arrogant, and waved his wand. "Expecto Patronum,"

To all three's surprise, he didn't produce anything. Even with his other tries, he didn't even manage to get as much of a wisp as Tenten did, which was barely any. This only made Lee more nervous because if Neji and Tenten could perform a spell, could he?

They watched him intensely as he closed his eyes, standing there meditatively in a position they'd usually see Neji performing. A familiarly wide smile drew upon his lips and Tenten sighed. She thought he was going to take it seriously.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" he yelled, catching the attention of everyone in the room with his boisterous attitude.

Where everyone was about to roll their eyes, what they didn't expect was a bright flash of light and the beginning of a small shield. Tenten's mouth hung agape and their professor strode over, seemingly unsurprised at Lee's sudden success.

"Good job, Lee, I haven't seen many people your age able to produce a spell that quickly. 20 points to Hufflepuff."

His two companions couldn't shake off their amazement, especially at the fact that for the rest of the day, his Patronus just seemed to get bigger while theirs didn't do anything at all.

༻*༺

"Tenten, do you have a moment?"

She looked up at the familiar baritone voice and Neji Hyuga was standing before her, a grey sweater over the usual white button-up with his sapphire blue tie loosened around his neck. The candle on her library table illuminated his face with dancing patterns and made him appear almost angel-like. Her breath caught in her throat and she shook out the feeling of butterflies with a friendly smile.

Checking her watch, she noticed that it was already pretty late and she'd have to get back to her dorm soon. Thankfully she just finished up her transfiguration essay.

"Only a moment," she said softly. "I'll have to hurry if I want to take a bath today."

"But you don't have any meeting or homework, I'm presuming?" he asked.

"Nope, I'm all yours," she said, blushing at the way it came out.

They walked through the halls of the school, moonlight illuminating the way out of the library. She followed him, wondering where they were going as he led her up winding staircases and towards a bronze door, a bronze eagle at the handle. Tenten recognized it as the Eagle Door Knocker, that spoke of riddles to let you pass.

Neji delicately picked up the handle and tapped it three times, then released his hold. The beak opened and a low voice range out.

"At night they come without being fetched, by day they are lost without being stolen, if absent they are summoned by a receiver, crushed if one won't be a believer."

She blinked a couple of times, looking over to her companion as he thought steadily.

"One's dreams as the mind's movement during sleep or the ambitions based on hope," he replied, the door swinging open. The Ravenclaw started towards the entrance but she didn't move.

"This is the Ravenclaw common room…" she trailed off. "I'm a Huffl—"

"I'm Head Boy and Prefect. I think I can get you an excuse if caught." he raised his eyebrow, waiting for her to respond. His eyes shone, asking her to trust him, and she couldn't refuse.

They had been friends since the beginning, sitting together on the train and eating sharing Every Flavour Beans. Over the years through study hall, Hogsmeade trips, and Prefect meetings, she slowly found herself falling for the lavender-eyed Ravenclaw, despite trying devastatingly hard not to. She knew what each millimeter of raised eyebrow meant, every angle of his sharp cheekbones, and the exact colour of his brown, (but only brown in direct sunlight as it was black right now) hair. She'd trust him with her life.

The Ravenclaw common room wasn't nearly as cozy as the Hufflepuff one. It looked more like the drawing-room of a fancy mansion, with regal blue couches and antique coffee tables. Yet she found herself drawn to the tall, rounded ceiling and the large shelves stacked with books of all sorts. More books were scattered across the carpets, some flipped upside-down, others marked with leather bookmarks. She noticed Shikamaru playing wizard's chess with Kankuro, who was losing badly, and Shino reading about magical bugs. Some of the more stuck-up Ravenclaws gave a few unimpressed glares at her until they realized she was with the Head Boy, the person everyone looked up to.

He led her past the dorm and to another door, where he took out his wand and waved it around, doing a complex unlocking spell that Alohomora just wouldn't cover. When he opened it, it led to a much narrower staircase, which they climbed around and around until there was a ladder and a trapdoor. He raised his wand towards the latch and pushed it open, moonlight spilling it into the darkness. He climbed out first, then held out his hand to help her climb out. When she stepped onto the tower's flat platform, her mouth hung open.

It was beautiful.

She could see the night sky, speckled with so many stars that they looked like salt spilled across a black canvas. The corners where the sky met the earth was illuminated by a purple haze, the half-moon sitting on top of them. She could see the whole castle from where she stood. The forbidden forest on one side, the black lake near another, the quidditch pitch and the six hoops...she could see it all. Her breath was taken away and she felt a surge of envy for the glittering view that the Ravenclaws had the privilege of seeing.

"If I had known that your house gets to see this, I would have forced you to show me this a lot earlier." she breathed, still caught up in admiring the sky.

"Not a lot of people have figured out how to get here," Neji said, sitting down on the wooden platform, gazing at the stars above. "I thought you would like it."

"It's breathtaking," she sighed, leaning over the railing, relishing the feeling of the wind rippling through her bangs. She untangled her hair from her twin buns and let it brush though that too. Tenten closed her eyes and smiled, relaxing, happiness surging through her until she felt drained of adrenaline from the feeling of him watching her.

When the stars seemed to blink slower, she sat down beside Neji, who was laying down. His eyes were darker in the moonlight yet still just as stunning. His eyes could compare to the stars, at least in her opinion.

"I thought about Lee," he said. "How he was the only one in our class to cast a Patronus that could possibly be useful. He surpassed us all with that spell, even though he isn't magically gifted."

"Lee always has defied the odds with his hard work. He's a true Hufflepuff," she said defensively.

An astonishingly wide smile crossed his lips, a chuckle escaped his mouth. "I know, he's something. But that couldn't have been hard work if he did it on the first try. Even you know that."

"Then what was it?" she asked.

Neji was silent, staring into her eyes in a way that made her strangely comfortable, before they darted to her lips for a split second, breaking contact.

"Happiness," he whispered. "He was the only one who could conjure enough joy and positivity for a Patronus."

"Are you saying that our whole grade besides Lee is depressed?" she teased.

The Ravenclaw Head Boy shook his head, the smile never leaving his lips. "No, no, but I believe he was the only one to truly feel it. He's been through a lot, and I'm guessing that joy must have been a stark contrast to the darkness, which was more powerful than anyone else's. After all, he and Professor Gai are always rambling about youth and joy."

She laughed, enjoying the sensation she felt while talking to him. Right now, she felt happy. She felt happy in a way she hadn't felt before. Was this—love?

Feeling experimental, she pulled out her wand, focused on her current feeling, and waved it in a circle.

"Expecto Patronum," she chanted, not softly, or as loudly as Lee had yelled.

Tenten could feel it working. She could feel her joy coursing from her mind to her wand and through the silver wisps of smoke spilling through it. Her best friend sat up to examine what her wand was conjuring. Silver streams didn't stop spilling. The light shaped into an animal with small ears, long muscled legs, and a pelt of beautiful spotted prints. She pranced around the tower, defying gravity, leaping on air.

She padded towards the two, right before their eyes. When it was close enough that Tenten reached out and touched it, her hand went through her like it was a ghost. Yet despite waving through the leopardess as if it was just air, she could feel the joy seeping through her veins once more and looking over at Neji, he was awestruck.

It wasn't often that he was amazed, even less so that he was amazed at something she, Tenten, conjured up. She loved the way his lips were slightly parted, his eyebrows raised, eye wide, and the corners of his mouth were turned upwards. He too had felt the pure pleasure coming from her full-fledged Patronus and he was soaking in it, in her Patronus.

As it leaped away, he turned to her and then looked at her with the same expression as he had with the leopardess.

Her breath hitched as he shook his head as if he didn't believe in something. "Wow,"

"Yeah,"

"How did you do that?"

Tenten blushed, tucking a piece of her overgrown bangs behind her ear. "I just felt so happy at that moment and I thought it would be enough to conjure a corporeal Patronus,"

She didn't know what to expect as a reaction, but a warm hand on her jaw and Neji's lips sealed firmly on hers certainly didn't cross her mind.

They were warm, just like the feeling of her Patronus, maybe even warmer. She melted into him, kissing him back under the moonlight, wrapping her arms delicately around his neck. He tasted of butterbeer and smelled of parchment, the cashmere sweater on her fingertips soft. Slowly, he pushed her to the wood panels of the roof and pinned her there, angling his head so he could drag out her bottom lip between her teeth.

He pulled away steadily, locking into her eyes, smiling warmly at her. Tenten's chest heaved as he firmly held her and she decided that she never felt safer or more at home. When he fully sat up again, his warmth still lingered and it wasn't as cold as she expected it to be.

The next moment, another beautiful Patronus was conjured and a large falcon flew swiftly towards her leopardess. He circled her and the two played in the air, leaping and flying, closely resembling the way her heart was beating fast and her chest was soaring.

Neji wrapped his arm around her and she smiled, leaning her head onto his shoulder. They wouldn't be having any trouble coming up with a powerful happy memory when the time came.


	2. Free as a Bird

**ii. Free as a Bird**  
**Au: Up (Pixar)**  
**Summary: In which an introverted young boy and an energetic young girl both dream of flying**

**Name better Disney soulmates than Carl and Ellie, I'll wait.**

* * *

Neji has always dreamt of flying.

Birds fly across the horizon and he decides that one day, he'll be the one to soar across the world with his own flock and his own wings. He will follow them, to see where they land, to build a nest wherever he wants, and soar freely. In his mind, nothing beats being able to fly, and that is what he plans on doing.

Yet he is caged by his family. He is an orphan, mother dead from giving birth, father hard on training him for the outside world, trying to protect him from the horrors. The cage doesn't seem so bad because he's caged in with his dad, but it's still a cage. Every day, he sees his father struggling to break free as well, to soar out on his own.

On a warm summer day at seven years old, Neji's father accompanies him and his cousins to the zoo, where he encounters a man dressed in green and has horrifically bushy eyebrows. The man is selling balloons in front of the aviary. Though the man is strange, he offers him a big blue balloon for free, flashing a giant smile that sparkles. It's the first time Neji has received a gift from someone other than his father and decides that he has a liking towards this man.

It happens by pure luck that his father is ordered to go to a clan meeting immediately, mostly concerning the two main branch girls, and he asks Neji if he wants to tag along or walk home. Realizing that he can have a moment to do whatever he pleases, he chooses to go home, alone. He doubts that they'll miss him very much anyways.

On his way back from the zoo, clutching the big blue balloon in one hand, he's running as fast as he can, pretending that he is flying. His arms are spread out like wings and he savours a few moments of freedom because he knows very well that it is not acceptable for Hyugas to act this way. In a soft but excited voice, he recites his actions out loud.

"He's flying astonishingly fast. High in the air, no one can believe the phenomenal wonders happening because finally, he's soaring and he's as free—"

"_Free as a bird!_"

Neji stops and he's right before an abandoned building, a shrill voice crying out from inside. He pauses in his footsteps, focusing on the female voice.

Startled with curiosity, the tall boy approaches the building, slowly ducking under the door that's half-collapsed, and creeps in towards where the voice is coming from. There's a girl and she has butterfly wings on her back that are torn in several places. She's twirling around, jumping, barely off the ground when she leaps, but nonetheless, the expression on her face makes it seem as if she truly believes she's flying.

"_500 feet off the ground, she's racing into the clouds. It's a beautiful day! Look! She's diving! She's dropping towards the ground like a cannon! Yet when you really look at her, she looks more like a dragon! She's a dragon, big gold wings and fire!"_

He turns to look at the bulletin full of pictures of flying objects, fascinated by her and the place. Yet when he turns back around, a pair of big brown eyes are right in his face.

"What are you doing?"

Startled, he accidentally releases his balloon and it floats up towards a large crack in the building.

"Don't you know this is an exclusive club?" she interrogates. "Only people who can fly get in here. Not just any kid off the street."

She's quite intimidating even though he's a couple inches taller than her. Her brown hair is the same shade as her eyes and they are wrapped into two big buns on top of her head. She's missing a couple canine teeth and she has a very subtle lisp because of it.

"Do you think you got what it takes?" she cries, "Well do you?"

He tilts his head back as it shoves closer to his face, and he raises an eyebrow at her, unimpressed at her loud voice.

Before he can answer, she draws back, this time smiling.

"Alright, you're in! Welcome aboard!"

The girl holds out her hand in a friendly gesture and her back is straight, showing good posture. After the way she's danced across the floor, he expects no less.

Instead of shaking it, he examines her critically, from her high cheekbones to the red Chinese-style top she's wearing. It comes off as being shy and her posture slackens, face drawing into a pout.

"What's wrong, can't you talk?"

Yes, he can talk, he just doesn't know what to say to her, as she seems like she really is a bird, like an angel.

"Hey, I don't bite,"

Again, the girl flashes her missing teeth in a pretty smile. She pulls a soda cap off her top and pins it to his shirt, her eyes shining.

"You and me, we're in the club now."

Neji looks down at the pin and back at her, eyes wide in shock at how her voice is soft and welcoming.

"I saw where your balloon went," she looks up towards the crack in the ceiling. "Come on, let's go get it!"

She runs around the corner and he follows, but not before she darts her head back into his face again.

"My name's Tenten,"

Tenten grabs his hand and his cheeks redden while she drags him up the stairs in pattering footsteps, until they've reached the next story. The room has a huge hole in the floor, the balloon is on the other side, and the only visible way to get there is a plank in the middle leading to the other side.

"There it is" he clenches his teeth together and she puts her hands on her hips. "Well, go ahead,"

She pushes him lightly towards the plank and he looks back at her unhappily. Tenten waves her hand for him to move. "Go on,"

He bravely lifts his foot to take a step.

The wood suddenly cracks beneath his feet, and it's clear as he falls and screams that Neji is not a bird, _yet_.

༻*༺

He ends up with a broken arm and he sits in the room of the branch compound, reading a book with a flashlight. Suddenly, a small wooden stick hits the book and he lowers it, realizing that attached to it is the same blue balloon he failed to retrieve.

A head suddenly pops out of his window.

"Hey, kid!"

Neji hisses at her to be quiet, the sound likely even louder than her voice.

In understanding, Tenten is more subtle when she flings her feet over the ledge and a huge book is in her hands. "Thought you might need some cheering up. I got something to show ya."

She quickly builds a blanket fort and they prop the flashlight up so it illuminates the small tent.

"I am going to show you something I have never shown any other human being in my life!" she hisses. "You have to swear, you will not tell anyone!"

He nods, skeptical.

"Cross your heart, do it!" Neji obeys as she goes on. She pulls out the book from behind her back and lays on her stomach with him. "My Adventure Book,"

She flips it open and on the first page, is a flyer of Lady Tsunade, bird specialist, aviation expert, and pilot. Her eyes are shining with admiration and he smiles too, as he looks up to her as well.

"You know who she is, Lady Tsunade!" Tenten says dreamily.

"She can fly," they say at the same time, meeting each other's eyes.

"I'm going where she's going. Land of Seas." The page flips to a map of the country. "Wanna know where I'm gonna live?"

Without waiting for an answer, she turns it to the next, a picture of a beautiful tropical rainforest and of course, waterfalls. "Takigakure. A village hidden in the waterfalls,"

It is well known across the Fire Country that Takigakure is very far and separated by many more countries and seas. Yet the exotic species of birds and the weather is supposedly even wilder than Konoha's. He sees what would draw her towards such a place

"I ripped this straight out of a library book," she tells him, a mischievous smile on her face. Neji raises an eyebrow as he looks at the small piece of paper attached to the top of the waterfall. "I'm going to put my clubhouse right next to the falls. Who knows what lives up there." she flips to a page labelled as _Stuff I'm Going to Do. _"I'm saving these pages for the adventures I'm going to have. Only, I don't know how I'm going to get to Takigakure."

She sighs and rests her jaw on her hands, but he gazes up at the poster of a helicopter on his wall. When she notices where he's looking, she jumps up. "That's it! You can take us there in a helicopter! Swear you'll take us! Cross your heart! Cross it!"

Neji rolls his eyes but obeys the girl, crossing his heart and rolling his eyes. Tenten smiles, satisfied.

"There, you crossed it, no backing out." she slams the book shut, "Well, see you kid."

As she climbs out the window and yells into the distance. "Free as a bird!"

Not to his surprise, she immediately pops her head back into his room.

"You know, you don't talk much...I like you!"

This time, she really leaves.

Neji leans on his balloon as he watches her leave, a smile spreads on his lips. "Wow,"

Suddenly, the balloon pops.

༻*༺

They get married 15 years later, inside a happy little church. She's just as beautiful as the day they met, and he kisses her very firmly on the lips, clutching her hands. Neji doesn't regret a thing.

His uncle is more than furious that he spends his day doing such a _frivolous_ career as Ornithology in the zoo he met the man with the balloons (his name, Neji finds out with Tenten later, is Gai), for Hiashi demands that he must take over the family business. In fact, after his father died. His uncle's sole purpose in life seems to be trying to separate Tenten from him, even though it never works. The two study birds at the aviary constantly with help from Rock Lee, who rescues injured ones from the wild, and they nurse the beautiful creature back to health. The four, Lee, Gai, Neji, and Tenten, take shifts selling balloons and gifting them to kids who seem to need more love.

Tenten looks into her side of the church, and though she is an orphan, all their friends are cheering on her side, dressed in colourful yukatas. Lee and Gai are sobbing their hearts out, clutching each other as rainbows seem to pour out of their eyes. Naruto and Kiba wolf-whistle, Ino is snapping multiple pictures with her polaroid, Shikamaru murmurs about how troublesome the whole situation is, though he looks sincerely happy for them.

He then looks over to his side, where the Hyuuga clan are all sitting neatly, legs straight, faces stoic, black and white colours only, and are clapping very slowly. They don't look happy for him. The only exceptions are Hinata and Hanabi, who somehow managed to wear pretty yukatas. Fortunately, both are smiling at him, and he waves to them gratefully.

After the short wedding, he carries her to the abandoned building where they met and begins building it. She's still in her red _qipao_ as she saws wood planks with furious speed. They finish their room on their wedding day so they have a place to sleep, and in a month, their house is complete, a replica of the house Tenten designed all those years ago. They move in furniture, for him, a blue velvet armchair, for her, a small modern white one. They paint a small mailbox with calligraphy letters of their name and two handprints.

Neji knows immediately that this is home.

༻*༺

Every Sunday, they race up a small hill. Though he's faster than her, she always manages to beat him up. Her woven picnic basket, an item they found at a flea market on one of their first dates, is filled with fruit, a baguette, fine cheese he always chooses, and a bottle of wine. It's his favourite spot besides their home.

Tenten's imagination is much more vivid than his. Cloud-watching is something Shikamaru unintentionally got them into, though it isn't Neji's forte. He's much more interested in the way her big brown eyes glaze over in her own little world while staying in his. She looks up to the sky and cups her fingers around the shapes as if she can reach out and touch them.

Her hand always manages to find his and at the touch, his eyes slip closed, relaxed and in peace. When she catches him staring at her, her wide smile softens into an appreciative one, and he gives an affectionate short kiss on the lips every time.

By then, they've saved numerous birds and set them free. Though he never saw himself giving children balloons or rescuing birds, he loves his job. It doesn't pay the most, yet he's truly happy. He loves her, she loves him, and for a while, that's all they need.

On another sunny day, she races him up the hill with her picnic basket, and they stare at the clouds again. She points out the things he can't imagine, like men who are part-sharks or foxes with nine tails. He's usually content with listening to her stare at them as he tries to see what she sees, and he gets better over time at understanding. Sometimes he can predict what she's going to say, but they are usually described with much more detail than his guesses.

Yet when he turns his attention back to the clouds and she decides that a cloud looks like Lee's leg and feet, with the ankle warmers too, he realizes that he can't agree. She looks at him, waiting for an answer, an objection, or to tell her she's insane, (or insanely beautiful), but he only tilts his head. All he can see when he looks at that cloud is a baby, no matter how hard he tries to see their best friend's foot.

Neji explains that he doesn't think it looks like Lee's ankle at all and tells her what he sees. She examines the cloud again and her eyes widen, smile forming. Tenten agrees that it very much looks like a baby. Suddenly, all the clouds seem to look like babies, and he feels his breath catch in his throat. Despite his limited imagination, he can see extremely clearly children with his eyes and her hair, with their high cheekbones, angular nose, and infectious smile. He can imagine giving them piggy-back rides and spinning them in the air, cooking for them and playing hide-and-seek.

Their eyes meet in a knowing look, and a month later, she's pregnant.

He finds himself just as excited for the baby as he was to marry her, and they clear a room into a nursery. She paints a stork onto the wall, he builds a crib and a mobile of their favourite birds. Lee and Gai have gifted them with many more stuffed birds, knowing that they would love for their child to be just as experienced in the field as they are.

Nearly out of her first trimester, she miscarries because of an ectopic pregnancy.

She faints during work and the birds peck at her, curious as to why the lady who fed them and nursed them wasn't moving anymore. He panics, something he's never done before, and Lee's the one who calls the ambulance first. During the whole ride to the hospital, Neji shakes in fear that he's going to lose her.

The paramedics rush her into the ER where doctors do a quick ultrasound and find that the embryo has attached itself onto her fallopian tube, and they go into emergency surgery, unable to save the baby.

Tenten wakes up and she's fine, but he breaks the news to her. She shakes her head over and over again, begging him to say he's lying, to tell her it's not true. He tries to keep himself from crying because he needs to be strong for both of them, yet he fails. Neji feels the dreams shatter in his heart and tears run down his face. He clutches her hand and puts it to his lips, and she cries too, sobbing in only emotional pain while the drugs numb physically.

She has one fallopian tube, and she's at high risk for another ectopic pregnancy. He's never felt her stomach to feel the baby kick. Never seen its heartbeat on an ultrasound. They don't have a good chance of having a baby again.

When she's discharged, they lay in bed and he wraps his arms around her waist, holding her back to his chest as she cries herself to sleep. Even when he knows she's finally passed out, her body quakes in his arms and he lies awake.

After a month off as personal leave, he finds her scrapbook and remembers her dream of going to the Village Hidden in the Waterfalls. Neji approaches her as she sits outside, puts a hand on her shoulder, and smiles weakly. She returns his smile, as always. When she looks down after he puts the scrapbook in her hands, her smile widens a little more.

They find another reason to be happy.

༻*༺

Because they aren't wealthy, they know that a trip to Takigakure can't come straight from their paychecks. They use the leftover paint from the nursery and use it on a portrait over their fireplace, reminding them of their dream. A jar is set by the coffee table and each day, they drop money into the jar to save up.

Yet something always comes up.

Their car's tire breaks.

They smash open the jar.

A tree falls on their roof.

They smash open the jar.

Neji breaks his leg.

They smash open the jar.

He barely notices when one day, he looks in the mirror and his hair is grey and Tenten's two buns are at the bottom of her head rather than the top. His cheekbones are more prominent as his face has sunken in more. Change has happened so fast and he has spent his whole life with her, just the way he wanted it.

Yet wouldn't it be nice just to make her dream come true?

Neji can't afford to buy them a helicopter, but he does purchase a tour package to go there and he shoves the tickets at the bottom of their picnic basket. He's so incredibly excited and that Sunday, he's beating her up the hill.

When she collapses, he drops the basket and rushes to her side, calling an ambulance in a hurry. This brings back serious deja vu and he calls Lee as they speed towards the hospital. His friend has to tell him to take deep breaths because Neji is so damn terrified that she's gonna leave him.

Tenten has cancer and the doctors don't give her good odds. She refuses treatment, however, and signs a DNR. It breaks his heart because he doesn't know what he's gonna do when she dies.

He watches her flip through the Adventure Book and looks at him sadly. Then she pushes it into his arms as if she's given up on those dreams.

Neji's wife dies that evening as her heart stops and the monitor screams. Tears are streaming down his face and Lee puts an arm around his shoulder as nurses switch the machines off so the fact that she no longer has a pulse isn't slapped in their face. It's horribly reminiscent of the day Gai sensei died, yet now it's Lee who has an arm around Neji, rather than Tenten with an arm around Lee and Neji with an arm around Tenten.

He doesn't know how he'll move on. She saved him, showed him the world from a different angle, and freed him from his cage. Being without her doesn't seem even possible.

There are several brightly coloured balloons at her funeral, the type they handed out to sad children who needed love. Lee holds his hand in comfort, though it doesn't do much to ease the pain.

༻*༺

After the craziest things had happen to Neji, he was charged for hitting a truck driver who knocked down their mailbox, flew the house away on balloons with Lee sitting on his porch unknowingly, and found a new species of bird a huge bird that Lee named after Gai, he thinks he had enough. So when he plants their house at the top of a waterfall in Takigakure, he has done it. He has finally made Tenten's dream come true.

But Lee, always so heroic and amazing, is so upset that Gai ver. 2 was captured by poachers, has been adamant to leave. Yet Neji wants to stay. This is what he has been fighting for. When Lee leaves the house, he feels pain in his chest that he can't describe.

He sits on his velvet couch and opens her adventure book, looking through the pages that she had posted all those years ago. They make him sad, seeing her so young. He wishes so badly she was here to see it.

When he lifts the side of the book to close, the page that says "things I'm gonna do" slips and he sees the jagged edge of some scotch tape.

Neji reopens the book and his breath catches. It's a picture of their wedding day.

The next pages are filled with moments of them, Lee, and Gai. He has to swallow back the tears as he flips over to each memory. It's so beautiful.

On the last page, he sees familiar writing at the corned of the photograph.

"_Thanks for the adventure, now go have a new one." Love, Tenten._

And Neji smiles, closes the book, and decides that despite being 85 years old, he will.


	3. Tangled

**iii. killing for survival, surviving for love  
Au: Tanlged  
Summary: In which a long lost prince with absurdly long hair finds his way back to the throne.**

**I posted this on Tumblr a couple of weeks ago but here it is on FFn. Sorry guys, love you.**

* * *

Once upon a time, in a kingdom full of many beautiful things and many ugly things, there was a child born to a nobleman and a princess. The nobleman was the second child of a marquess, title worth significantly less than his older twin, who was to inherit the property and title of his father. The princess was the only child of the royal family, the only in line to inherit the throne. She was to marry a prince from another country until it was found that she had borne a child, though few people knew whose it was.

Of course, the princess knew that the father was Hizashi Hyuga, the second-born nobleman, and he was aware as well. The third person aware of the child's parentage was Hiashi Hyuga, the uncle of this child. Yet as the princess died, it was clear that the next in line to inherit the throne would be the child, though born to a man who would have a very small status, would one day become king.

Thrown with cruel jealousy, Hiashi went to murder his own brother, who was to become the king consort after the princess became queen. However, it appeared that this outcome was predicted and Hizashi injected a vial of poison into his thigh, which would kill him slowly and painfully over the course of a week. The only available cure happened to be the hair of the current newborn, already long like his fathers, enchanted by a sorceress with the ability to heal anything. When the baby prince's temples were pressed, veins would protrude near his eyes and a faint outline of a pupil would emerge from his silver eyes. This activated the power of the Byakugan, a healing energy that would keep Hiashi alive for another week.

Yet if the hair was completely cut, Hiashi would die immediately. When at first meaning to raise the baby on his own, the kingdom found the princess's will, explaining that whomever had the mark of a manji and the same animal companion as the princess would be the heir to the throne. Over the years, several boys and girls were tattooed with the manji and given random animals, hoping that it would be the correct one and able to earn them the prince or princess. When realizing the prince had the tattoo and a chameleon whose life was tied to his, Hiashi locked the baby in a tower far from the kingdom away to avoid suspicion of the mark. Neji's forehead was always covered with a bandage.

But every year on the day the princess died, the old king and queen sent birds all over, carrying information scrolls in search for the true heir, hoping that one day, someone would show to reclaim the throne.

* * *

The prince's name was Neji Hyuga and for the seventeen years of his life, he was never allowed to go outside of his tower. Part of this reason stood that he was taught to fear the outside world and that he would never be stronger than them. He didn't know how others fought, thought that Hiashi was weak therefore he was weaker, though almost being able to beat him in a spar. He believed that Hiashi was his father and that his mother was dead. Perhaps that was the only truth that his uncle ever told him.

So he would hang out with his chameleon Lee for hours on end and he'd educate himself about the outside world, read and train and draw and meditate. But what he longed to do was fly, for he loved birds and the way they could soar in the sky. On his birthday, there would be seemingly millions of birds everywhere, each of a different colour and what seemed to be a scroll on their leg. He wished to read them, wished to even touch one.

When his Hiashi came to feed him, and to brush his hair, that had never been cut besides a small strand on his neck, a couple weeks before his eighteenth birthday, he cautiously approached the subject of being allowed to explore the kingdom and to see the birds and their mysterious scrolls. However, his request was crushed, being told that the scrolls were just gibberish and he wouldn't understand them. Disappointed, Neji went back to meditating.

Somewhere else in the kingdom, a handsome thief, tired of all the money the kingdom spent on the birds and the scrolls in order to find the lost prince, decided to take action. Her name was Tenten and through her wits, stored the prince's crown with the help of two other thieves. To take the crown for herself, she tricked the two and rode off with a stolen horse named Gai.

Gai, though upset that she stole the crown, led her deep into the forest to escape the guards of the palace, only to tumble off a cliff. The two found a small tunnel hidden by vines and on the other side was a magnificent stone tower surrounded by scenery and nature. Tenten was only struck with awe for a moment before remembering needing to hide.

She let Gai escape, knowing he would find her when she needed him and climbed to the top of the tower with her arrows. However, she couldn't find time to rest or even look at the satchel with the crown before Neji attacked her, fighting furiously. Tenten defended herself with several different weapons, throwing them with deadly accuracy that he somehow seemed to avoid. What was even more impressive was the fact that he had not lost a single strand of his hair in the process.

Lee the chameleon, who was a lot stronger than he looked, knocked her out with a frying pan.

Neji shoved Tenten into his wardrobe, excited with the victory of someone in the real world. He was convinced that if he showed Hiashi his ability to fend for himself, he would be allowed out of the tower. Yet his uncle rejected the idea before he could even propose it, so Neji, remembering the weapons the thief wields, instead asked for a bow and a set of arrows from the Kingdom of Iwa, as the journey there would be longer, giving him more time to escape.

When Hiashi left, he tied Tenten to a chair with his long hair and waited to interrogate her. Tenten woke up and was immediately astonished by how handsome Neji was and started to flirt with him shamelessly, which only made him confused. Disappointed, she answered the questions he asked, annoyed by the clueless guy.

However, Neji still had the crown and he proposed a deal: that she lead him to see the birds and the scrolls in exchange for the crown. Tenten grudgingly agreed and they left the tower, which started to mess with the lost prince's head. She then had the idea to take him to a pub with vicious thugs, who would probably dislike him very much and convince him to go back.

Hiashi had discovered Gai running around without anyone on his back and became suspicious, entering the tower through a secret tunnel and furious that he had left.

The thugs were her friends and at the sight of how well-dressed Neji was, decided that he could be worth a lot. Ino thought his hair would make great extensions for her salon. Sakura thought his rich-looking clothes would be worth a lot. Saskue knew the price on Tenten's head and wanted to turn her in, though everyone rejected that idea instantly. Yet Neji told them about his wish to be free and they were convinced and charmed by his presence. Naruto exclaimed thoughts about the old king and queen who were obsessed with finding their grandchild. Sakura and Choji were worried about all the people who didn't have enough to eat and were dying of malnutrition. Kiba was worried about the animal cruelty. They all had their own wishes and welcomed Neji as one of them.

Suddenly, the guards looking for Tenten appeared and they had to run, jumping onto Gai's back quickly and escaping many near-death experiences. They camped in the forest and Neji pressed his temples, activating the healing power of his hair. As he healed her wounds, he explained to her the Byakugan and how he was locked away because people would try to steal him for his hair, and how it would lose the power when cut.

Having told Tenten his story, he asked about hers. She told him she was an orphan and stole to keep herself alive, and sometimes her friends. The crown could give her a better life, one where she didn't have to steal anymore, and she wanted to relax. Tenten thought that his dreams of seeing the birds and the scrolls were stupid because the birds were captured and caged, only to be tied down with something they didn't want. The money used to do this could have supported many villagers.

Though feeling guilty, Neji told her that the birds were still freer than he was, a reason he was so obsessed with them. While she left to gather firewood, Hiashi found Neji and returned the satchel with the crown, saying the Tenten would leave him if he gave it to her. He believed that there was a romance between the two of them and that after everything they had been through, she wouldn't leave him. Yet when she came back, he second-guessed himself and didn't give her the crown.

The next day, Tenten brought Neji on a boat and during the afternoon, they watched the birds fly from the castle, each carrying a tiny little scroll on their ankles. They watched in awe and started to realize their feelings for each other. When a bird landed on their boat, she carefully untied a scroll and handed it to him. In turn, he gave her the crown she had stolen, asking if it meant that she would leave. Tenten told him she would stay and as they leaned in kiss, she pulled away at the sight of the two thieves she betrayed.

She took the crown and gave it to them, asking that they left her alone. Yet the two thieves had been approached by Hiashi and knew that Neji was much more precious than the crown. They knocked her out and tied her to the boat in a way that made it seem as if she was running away, leading her to the kingdom to face her death sentence.

Neji, convinced that Tenten had left, went back to his tower with Hiashi, feeling extremely miserable. He suddenly remembered the scroll she had untied for him, and opened it. There was a mark on the scroll, a glowing green manji and two curves from it, one identical to the one on his forehead. On the corner, there was a small message asking that the lost prince with such a tattoo and an animal companion would return to the castle and take their rightful place on the thorne.

He looked at Lee, whose bushy eyebrows raised in surprise, and memories rushed into his head. There were flashes of his old life, his father, his mother, the enchantress who blessed his hair, and he realized what had happened. Before his uncle left, Neji grabbed him by the collar and demanded the truth. Hiashi admitted to his crimes and realizing that there was no way he'd convince the prince to stay locked up, they engaged in a spar.

It was vicious, cruel, and tight. Yet Hiashi was way more experienced and bound Neji to a post after his defeat. He now would resort to taking the cure of the hair by force.

As she was led out of prison to her death sentence, Tenten found the two thieves who she formerly worked with and found it suspicious. She knocked out the two guards while in handcuffs and demanded to know how they found out about Neji and what had happened to her. They revealed that Hiashi took him back and that was when she knew he was in danger.

Several more guards came to take Tenten away until she realized that something was off, but in a good way. A flash of pink hair, orange jacket, and onyx eyes took away the guards by her side so fast she could barely comprehend it. As she ran, the people chasing her were slowed down by Shikamaru and she knew they were slowed down even further when she saw way too much cleavage and a sultry tone, and even slower after the booming vibrations of Choji's footsteps.

In the courtyard, she was poorly hyped up by Shino, who made her stand on a wooden board angled on a rock. Kiba dropped his dog onto the other side and she flew into the air, landing on Gai. To her surprise, a girl who looked similar to Neji but a lot more timid faced her. She recognised the girl as Hinata Hyuga and several things started to click together in Tenten's mind.

Hinata gave Tenten a blade and told her to cut Neji's hair, as it would kill her father. She too did not want the marquess alive and with that, the thief rode to the tower with terrifying speed. Upon arriving at the tower, she called for his hair, climbing it to the top of the tower to make sure Neji was ok.

However, she barely got a glimpse of him before Hiashi plunged a knife into Tenten's abdomen. Neji, still tied up, screamed in fury and begged that to let him heal her he would never leave the tower again and live for the soul purpose of providing for his evil uncle. Even with her protests, the price insisted.

Hiashi chained her down and freed Neji, who hurried to Tenten's side, wrapping his hair around her wound, about to press him temples to activate his Byakugan. As she grabbed onto his neck, seeming to kiss him, she cut off his hair with Hinata's blade, making Hiashi scream in fury. The eighteen-year-old wound on his thigh spreads all over his body and he disintegrates into ashes.

Neji pressed his temples over and over again in an attempt to reawaken the Byakugan but it wouldn't work. He begged for Tenten to stay with him, who was starting to lose consciousness. Yet she touched his face and told him that she loved him and as he whispered the words back, her body went limp. Neji slowly bent his forehead towards hers and his tear dropped onto her cheek.

Suddenly, a lavender glow encircled the room and the wound on her abdomen started to heal. He watched in awe as the enchantment faded, stunned by the power of his tears. Quickly shaking her, Tenten's eyes slowly opened. Neji breathed her name and she slowly came back into consciousness, smiling and hitting on him, the same way they did when they first met. He laughed and without hesitation, kissed her.

Neji reclaimed his throne and he ruled the kingdom with his queen by his side, feeding the poor and treating animals right, living happily ever after.


	4. Six

**iv. Six  
****AU: Harry Potter Universe  
****Summary: In which Neji owls Tenten to meet after he ghosted her for six years**

* * *

It's quiet outside. Quiet apart from a few familiar hits of a couple of owls, breaking the cold silence with weary conversation. Yet a figure draws out of the shadow and the hooting halts for a moment, curious of the strangers walking along their path.

The person wears a long tan wool trench, though bulky, does nothing to hide an elegant figure as when she walks, her lean legs, looking taller with the pleats on her grey pants. Her leather loafers look new. Maybe she often cleans them, though it wouldn't come as a surprise if she is good enough not to get them dirty. Her hands are gloved in black. There's a scarf of red and gold wrapped tightly around her neck, the only article of clothing with colour. Her footsteps are nearly soundless but even so, the soft clicks that are made command attention among the owls, her presence powerful.

One owl hands on the black lamppost, talons scraping onto the metal as he silently folds his wings. The woman glances up and examines its shape, brings up the crook of her elbow as if placing it onto a tall counter. The bird lands on her forearm, dipping his head in greeting.

"Ah, it's you, Kaiten. It's been quite a while, hasn't it?" her voice is calm and deep, though the deepness comes from her slow calmness rather than her actual voice. Yet it is effective. Her voice makes her seem more mature than she looks, a soft face with large eyes, colour indistinguishable under the glare of the darkness, and hair tied into two buns at the sides of her head.

Kaiten hoots in greeting. There is nothing tired around his ankle, she notices.

"Are you here alone?" she smiles, "I expected him to be with you, though it could be that you are meeting him here. I am, as well."

Her words almost seem to bring the anticipated footsteps of _him_, his heavier, but are just as intimidating and as confident as hers. She slowly turns around and focuses on the person she has been expecting, or expecting her.

He's dressed similarly to her. However, his trench is navy rather than tan and it's unbuttoned, revealing a black vest under a white button-up that seems to shine in the dark. While her shoes are pebbled, his are smooth and glossy and reflect every bit of the light. His scarf was of the same material, a thick knit, but the colours were of blue and silver rather than red and gold. Perhaps the most distinguishable difference is his long black hair flowing down to his waist, tied into a very low ponytail with a silver band. His bangs reach his collarbones and they drift in the wind, resembling a ribbon rather than the messiness that hair usually reacts under the breeze. Though her dark eyes were hard to say much about, it is easy to see that his eyes are silver, and they stare into hers.

She stays still, holding his gaze, face without any expression. The woman doesn't allow herself to feel much at the contact. Her chin tilts down in greeting, as he does the same. As he was the one who has requested their meeting, she waits for him to speak first. She is looking for a direct answer to why she is meeting him, now, in the night, in the break they have had from speaking.

Instead, he looks at the owl, who's snowy feathers start to resemble his eyes when one looks closely and quirks the tip of his eyebrow, almost amused.

"It has been long since Kaiten has not tried to terrorize a sorcerer in his path,"

"Perhaps he likes me," she says, untying the sash of her coat and taking out a series of seeds, allowing him to eat from the palm of her hand. "Or perhaps he recalls that I carry food in my pocket. I fed him well."

He nods. "Is Bō—"

"Bō passed a couple of years back. Murdered while carrying classified information." the woman explains, nearly emotionless. However, there is a glance of sympathy in his eyes that she does not miss and confuses her, however, she does not let it show.

"It has been a while, Miss Long,"

She gives a bitter chuckle. "Are we already past the point that we cannot address each other by our first names?"

She purposely leaves out his name, not knowing what to say. She'll allow him to decide whether he wants to continue calling her by her last name or her first. So she waits for him to walk up to her before pacing with him along the cobblestone path, weaving through turns and intersections at a moderate pace. His skin looks warmer under the orange glare of the lamps but she knows of the usual paleness, resembling porcelain rather than sand. Yet her attention focuses more on the lack of accessories on his hand apart from the Hyuga crest on his middle finger and a silver swirl on his pointer.

She hasn't seen that ring before, not on him at least. Perhaps it is another crest. But she has seen it on other people and he isn't the type to engage in trends. What's more important is that there is no ring on his ring finger, which doesn't come as much as a surprise considering that he was on the newest _Witch Weekly_'s _Britain's Most Eligible Bachelors_. She knows he is still officially single. Just like her.

Of the past six years, she has made four _Britain's Most Eligible Bachelorettes_ on _Warlocked Magazine _and he has made all. In a strange way, it bothers her that he has remained single all these years while she has had a good handful scattered everywhere and was in a serious one in the years she didn't make the magazine. It nearly feels like he has been faithful to her, but there are far more reasons to disprove his faith.

"I'm sure you have heard of the Akastuki's rising," he starts. She nods. Since the organization started to murder people in every corner of the world, that's all the witches and wizards have been speaking of. Few people do not know of it.

"There is an order looking to defy the ministry and to rebel against them. Tsunade herself is leading it. So far, Naruto, Sakura, and Shikamaru, a few professors, and Hinata are in. There are more, but we're still recruiting. He pauses "We need you, Tenten."

She freezes. Tenten does not respond. The idea sounds like a hopeless school club but appealing nonetheless. Yet there are too many things, things she would not have thought of when they were still young that keep her from really considering.

"I'm not sure you do," she says, but she wishes so in another way that has nothing to do with the order.

"Tenten, you're the youngest witch to ever be appointed Head Auror. They say you've put 200 in Azkaban. You're more powerful than you know."

"You need my title, not my power," she says instead. "Isn't that right, Neji."

He shakes his head. "You're extremely talented—"

"I am. I am Neji, but most of the people you just told me about are better at magic than I am. They were qualified to be Aurors. Many Aurors are better than I am. I only hold the position because the minister or magic needed a drastic change. How well do you think my name and power will work when _I _am in Azkaban? You don't need me. You've put far more people in Azkaban than I have."

Neji Hyuga is a member of the Wizengamot. He's a part of the jury who decides on the new laws of the wizarding world and also of the results during a trial. Tenten is the head Auror, a position that is usually handed out to people in their forties, the youngest before her in their mid-thirties. Neji, on the other hand, was offered the position at twenty-one, while most Wizengamont members were at least sixty, nearly retired. It was inevitable that he would be the Cheif Warlock very soon.

He speaks of her power highly, as if his position is not much higher than hers. But their power difference was not always so drastic.

In the over four years that they had been dating, they had been going along similar paths. Both went under the three years of Auror training and made it out with high grades, his better than hers of course. He was good at everything, better at everything except for transfigurations. But a scout found him, found his calmness, his level-headedness, his intense demeanour as the perfect candidate for a Wizengamot member, despite being so young. Not to mention that his name happens to be filled with history, probably the purest of the country. Almost disgustingly so.

"We don't need your name. The organization is secret. We need your power, your position. It will be easy for you to know the details of criminals and feed false information to the ministry. You are in charge of recruiting both the trainees and the Aurors. Your intuition is astoundingly good. You can spy without the need of being subtle or cautious. Do you not understand?"

"I understand my power," she says. "But you know just as well that power will not win a war."

Neji nods. Clouds clear, revealing a moon similar in colour to his eyes. Yet the weather remains cold, the streets remain desolate. The area provides an almost nostalgic setting. It could be nostalgic.

She, Neji, and Lee, a former classmate who is now a professional Quidditch player, used to sneak out of their homes, or orphanage in Lee's case, and play. They were teenagers by the time they met, so it was mostly to play wizard's chess and Gobstones in the parks or wander into muggle stores where they'd explain the use of items to Neji.

And the winter where all of them were finally seventeen, they'd duel in the forests, able to use magic. They'd rescue frozen cats and heal injured birds, would feed stray dogs scraps of food they'd steal from the butchers. When they began dating, they came here on dates, showing him hot chocolate, then ice cream. Yet after the massacre happened near the town, a reputation developed for dark things happening and the area deserted.

This place was good for one reason: secrecy. Their history allowed them to use memories as place names and times. Here, it was convenient. It was not for nostalgia. Tenten barely spared second glances to the cafes and ice cream shops they had gone to.

Won't you join anyway?

She said nothing, unsure.

"Tenten, your righteousness surely cannot fail you now."

He was answered by a sharp how of wind and the slicking of their shoes.

"Forgive me that I do not want to participate in an order that will start a war."

"That's awfully hypocritical coming from a witch who makes money off of conflict."

"Do you not also make money off of conflict, Neji Hyuga?"

"I am trying to end the war, Tenten Long."

"How do you not think that it is what I am trying to do as well? I am neither the best nor the most experienced Auror. I am more progressive than half of them combined. Do you know how hard it was to get this promotion? While you diddle daddle in meetings and recruitments, I'm cautiously watching every action of the blood-supremacist Aurors and firing them. I'm slowly imposing more guidelines to control the brutality and the hate crime our own are committing. Less extreme measures. The new recruits have been screened so tightly that any unnecessary accounts of violence or hateful comments do not make it. But everyone is watching me. Those old members of the Wizengamot will use any excuse to get me out of power. They'll throw in a violent head who allows the uses of the unforgivables. I'm trying to end this current war, not stop the upcoming one."

Neji's face hardens. "I cannot see how someone as noble as you are so afraid of joining the order."

Tenten scoffs. "I'm not noble—"

"You know why you made Head Girl in our seventh year but didn't make Prefect?"

She recalls how he was both Prefect _and _head boy. And she made _has_ wondered. She wasn't the smartest or the kindest or the most anything. Tenten had asked him countless times why he thought she had made head girl but he would never tell her.

"You were good. You brought out the best in everyone. You did what you believed was right and would make sure others would do so. I had heard Professor Yuhi say to Professor Hatake that you were the role model that all Gryffindor should aspire to be.

"She didn't," Tenten can hardly believe he potions professor would say such a thing about her. It seems all too much.

"You know I wouldn't lie about that, Ten."

She can only let her heart ache at the sound of the name he used to call her, but should not have much more meaning. She can only wince and stand her ground. "

It's been six years, Neji." she whispers as her voice drowns among the trembling leaves and rain dripping off roofs.

Tenten has held off on thinking about them since she got his owl. It has been all too much now. Six years ago, they were freshly graduated from the Auror academy. New recruits sent on easier cases. Maybe half a year later, they had gained the trust of many seniors and they were partners, developing strategies, blending together like dance partners.

She still remembers how loving him felt. It was too good, impossible, almost.

They were twenty-one. They had been dating for four years and she thought it was possible that he'd even propose. Even now, she doesn't blame herself for thinking so. He had consistently disappeared more and more. He stuttered to her more. And the chemistry wasn't gone. He couldn't have been cheating. He wouldn't ever.

But one day, he just left.

She woke up and half his stuff was gone, mostly pictures, even of them, his scarf, his favourite robes, and obviously his wand. He didn't show up to work. She was told that he resigned and she was offered to either have a new partner or to work alone. And she chose the latter.

Tenten had sent her owl to deliver countless letters to him, pouring her heart out, begging him to come back home, to work with her again, to tell her why he was gone. But he never wrote back until she found his name in the daily prophet, announcing his new position as the new Wizengamot member. She wrote to his work address and her reply only explained how he got the position rather than why he left _her_. And it was completely professional, not an ounce of emotion.

She had never followed _Witch Weekly _magazines until then, hoping for glimpses of the guy who ghosted her and broke her heart. Even now, she still isn't over him, her first love, likely her only. Tenten wonders if he still cars about her the way he did when they were seventeen.

He cast his first Patronus, the spell he could not master because it used one's most powerful memories, after their first kiss over the top of the Ravenclaw Tower, a place she should not have been. He had snuck her there. His Patronus took form as a falcon, resembling his serious and strict demeanour, intimidating and sharp.

She wonders if his Patronus has changed form, as Patronuses sometimes do to resemble one's personality. Hers has. Every time she mumbles those incantations, no matter which memory she uses, a swan spills out from her wand instead of a leopardess. It's a bird, like his. Maybe it's because she will never get over him, will always belong to him in her heart.

"Tenten, you can't possibly be naive enough to believe that this can be solved without war. It's either that or you just don't want to do anything I ask of you. The order is asking, not me."

"So you don't care about whether or not I join. Following someone's orders without a second thought of doing what you'd like to yourself," she spits out bitterly. A flinch reaches across his body. Her words may have reached deeper than she would have thought.

"Of course I agree with their course of action."

"Well, of course, you do. You always just obey rules, never bend or break them. And of course, you're a part of the order and have enough respect that even if your name leaks out, your job is secure. You still have enough money to sustain yourself for another century."

His face hardens and his adam's apple, shadows crossed deeply over his neck, bobs slowly. "I do not follow every rule—"

"One instance, Neji," she says, controlling her voice despite the way she wants to scream at him. Gravel shakes behind her.

"Ravenclaw tower. I shouldn't have snuck you—"

"That's shit, Hyuga. You snuck me into your common room and that's the only rule you've ever broken? You've never done anything. Not to sneak socks and scarves for the house-elves. To let the first-years drenched because they were lost, use the prefect baths. Stealing ingredients from the potions cabinet because some muggle-borns couldn't afford it. But no, the worst you've ever done is put a Gryffindor Head Girl in the secret Ravenclaw tower so you could kiss her into submission for the rest of her life. Tell me, did you leave me without saying goodbye because your uncle told you to or because you didn't love me. I bet it's both."

"Tenten!" he yells. His voice quivers like the leaves, he shakes with the wind.

"Dammit, Neji!" Tenten has her wand out now. She doesn't know why but she feels vulnerable and whenever she feels vulnerable, she has her wand out. "Deny it! I dare you to deny it!"

"I—I cared, but—" he doesn't muster out much after that.

"Yea, I thought so," she swallows, wraps her scarf tighter. There's a spell on it to protect her from the cold but it still feels freezing. Neji won't look at her. He won't deny or admit anything. She can only ask one thing of him. "Cast your Patronus."

The man freezes, his fists form into tight balls. She catches his every movement, analyzes his movements as she does to a suspect. But she can read suspects. She can't read him.

His lips, pale but still red from dryness, press together. Wind pushes by him, almost trying to rip through this trench coat, to unravel his scarf. His eyebrows knit but his face appears to be the only thing that moves. He doesn't reach for his wand.

"Cast it!"

He slowly shakes his head. Neji's voice runs deep. "I cannot."

Tenten bites her lips and trembles, just slightly. "Six years. It's the first time you've reached out to me in six years and still, it's not an apology. I—I just need to see if—if it has changed."

"I haven't been _able _to cast a Patronus in—six years, Ten," he says. "Not even a wisp."

She can't move. It's like she's petrified. Had he been broken too?

Tenten swirls her wand in a circle and yells. "Expecto Patronum!"

A silver ribbon of light flows from the tip of her wand, it starts to dip into the ground, forming into a puddle until shapes weave together into a swan. It starts to fly, around her, around him, and slowly goes into the forest behind them, exploring. Everything around them is dark, greys, blacks, but her swan is a glow of warm blue light. It makes him look lovelier, the colour of her Patronus now the colour of his eyes, glued onto it.

"Tell me why—" her voice cracks abruptly. "Why for the past six years, I've been casting a bird that represents everlasting faith instead of a leopardess that's supposed to represent fierceness.

His gaze is focused on the figure cast of her happy memories, ones surrounding memories of him and Lee, bittersweet, but also marvellous. "Every memory I had used to cast a Patronus doesn't bring me joy anymore. I cannot feel anything but guilt and regret now."

Even though she wants to say he deserves it, he deserves constant sadness, depression, six years is a long time. It's more than the time they had been dating. And he's been on all six issues of _Britain's Most Eligible Bachelors_—

"You bastard," she nearly sobs. "Why the bloody hell did you leave me?"

He starts closer to her. "I was wrong. You were right. You were always right. It was my uncle. I was afraid of being disowned and I thought I'd be nothing, that I would have nothing but not having you—god, Tenten, it's so much worse than I would have ever thought."

She grabs his coat collar. She knows he expects her to kiss him but she takes his wand from the pocket of his sleeve, a move they practiced when they were working together. It's usually unexpected. The feel of his wand, elm, unicorn tail, a smooth finish that's much neater than hers, still sits strangely familiar, though the stun she shoots misses barely.

Her next movement consists of taking a black wand from her own sleeve, ebony phoenix feather, and she throws his back into his hands before turning back to their unwelcome visitor. She had sensed him there, behind Neji, finally finding an opportunity to attack.

Curses, dark ones, shoot at her. Tenten reflects them with the flick of her wrist but even then, she can feel how powerful the dark arts are within him. The gravel littered across the ground lifts and she transfigures them into sharp blades fo steel. With a large wand movement, they shoot to him at a rapid speed. This attack continues, the rocks becoming knives, twigs becoming daggers.

A particularly nasty curse comes towards her and she doesn't know how well she can deflect it. She has always been better at attacking than defending.

The glow of capable blue light form around her and it isn't her spell. The shield stops even her movements. It's Neji's charm, one of the biggest and strongest ones she has ever seen. It's his clan's specialty: defence and his cousin perform them so well and she doubts that he will have a single scar after the war from magic.

The force of his shield is so strong that it knocks back the dark wizard. Tenten snaps back into focus. Through the shield, she sends a series of stuns, transfigured objects, and they move close to him, Neji shooting defensive spells as offensive ones. It's a pattern of attacks that Tenten has forgotten. Only her muscles move practised precision, using their enemy's unfamiliar to the environment to her advantage. Neji disarms him and Tenten binds him with Auror ropes.

Her pants of breath are muffled by the howling wind. Yet she can tell that Neji is also out of breath from the wispy puffs of perspiration. She strides up to the man and lifts his hood. She quickly flips back the pages of the blacklist and she recognizes him. He's Kabuto Yakushi. He's a powerful dark wizard, skilled healer, and a killer of countless of her coworkers.

Had neji not been with her, she doubts she would have been able to deflect him alone. As the same for him. Even had it been any other Auror alongside her, she knows that she simply wouldn't be strong enough.

"Well, I have to say, the show you put on was convincing," KAbuto says calmly, his glasses resting at the tip of his nose. "Caught me off guard for a moment. That's pretty rare, but nothing to think otherwise from the Head Auror and a Wizengamot member."

"Yakushi," she says, her voice cool like a snake. A smile quirks at her lips. "We've been looking everywhere for you,"

Neji glances at her. "You know him?"

Tenten nods. "He's one of the most wanted wizards in the blacklist."

"You better bring him in quickly, then," he replies.

Tenten flicks her wand and he goes unconscious, head falling back. She puts him in a sheet of paper, a spell she has invented inspired by extension charms for backpacks. Then she hands the paper to him. He knows how to use them. Neji looks very confused.

"You can interrogate him within the order."

His eyes go wide. "But—"

"I'm in. I'll join. We won't get as much out of him as you will. But you better owl me, Neji. I won't let you chase enemies by yourself. I have six times your experience."

He smiles, then it falters. "Is that how you knew he was there?"

"He followed you. It's just something you tune into being an Auror for so long."

Because even though he'd be better at many things, defence against the dark arts still being one of them, there were some things he just couldn't pick up without practice.

"Was it all just for show?" he asks.

She shakes her head. "The easiest way to lie is to tell the truth. I can't fake a Patronus."

He pulls out something from his pocket. It is the silver ring with the same engraving she had seen others wearing, he included. "The shinobi order ring. It's yours to have."

Tenten stares at it for a couple of seconds. She slides it onto her middle finger, then smiles ina bittersweet thought. He notices her smile, he always notices the little things.

"What is it?"

"Before we broke up, I—" she pauses in consideration of telling him. Tenten stares into his silver eyes, curious. The wind makes his hair drift like a silk curtain, he looks like a painting. She decides to let the confession go. It's been a while. He should know. "I thought you had avoided me those years back because you were going to propose.

Neji is silent. She can see a hint of his blush even with such minimal lighting and to know that his face is red makes her smile, despite the anxiety in revealing her hopes to marry him.

"I would have, had we had more time, had Hiashi—I'm—"

She interrupts his stammering, however adorable it may be. "It's ok. I just hoped."

Tenten kisses him on the cheek slowly. His face is warm, her lips are cold, but she only allows herself a brief moment of lingering before turning away.

The end of the alley is still cloaked in dark shadows but she feels that it looks just a bit lighter. It is, maybe it is getting brighter. She sees a wisp of white, more ribbony in texture and flowy, yet stronger in opacity compared to her Patronus. Tenten holds her breath as the animal slowly comes up behind her—it's also a swan.

Tenten feels its proximity. The swan provides her with warmth, curiosity, intrigue. These feelings are not the feelings she is used to his Patronus feeling like. Usually, they are simply of content and tranquillity, sometimes even an exhilaration that makes her stomach tumble and makes electricity flow through her body. It's cast with a different memory, though cannot imagine which one.

"The first time we met. On the train. You bought me a chocolate frog even though you only had enough money for one. The person on the card was Tsunade, you told me she was your hero." he explains. "It's the only memory of you I don't feel guilty about. I'd like to try again. I—I would marry you any day. I would wait forever."

He pulls off the Hyuga Crest from his finger, presses it into her hand. It's heavier than anything she's ever held.

"I will," her voice comes out as a whisper. It feels too soon, but she has been ready to marry him since she was 17. "But me wearing this crest will really piss off your uncle.

"That's the intention,"

Perhaps even in the six years they had been apart, the two had been completely committed to each other already.


End file.
